21
Jul
2016
- Details
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Category: Uncorked Tonight
(November 20, 2015) ... I am often asked why I write countries in my titles, yet California ( a US state ) gets its own mention - it's because California is a world unto itself ... what else can I say?
This was an evening where I packed my wine bags and headed off to our friend's house (let's call her Sue) for dinner; I packed a lot of things in my bags tonight, 8 wines in total, with a real (for lack of a better term) mixed bag of results.
Kicked things off with a little Organized Crime 2008 Gewürztraminer, surprising how well this wine has stood the test of time: nose is floral, melon, tangerine, pear, and lychee - incredibly still fresh and lively and the palate confirmed that: subtle floral, orange peel and good acidity. Finished on a real high note: spiced with subtle white pepper and the delight of green pear.
That Gewürztraminer was a real bright spot for the white wines tonight - the one I thought would hit the high notes proved to be a real lemon, Pondview 2009 Bella Terra Chardonnay - with the pedigree of 2009 this should have been a stand out, but alas the nose (which may have been this wine's best feature): almond, hazelnut, and marzipan while the palate was a dreadful oxidized mess that barely held on to the praline, spice, and mushroom flavours - finish was awful and the dark golden colour of the wine should have been our bellwether as to how this was going to taste ... I thought it might be the bottle, so I went home and two days later opened my other bottle of this wine - and it was even worse. I can only speculate as to what went wrong here.
I would have to say the rest of my bottles turned out to be winners, and were a real world tour of wine starting with a bottle of Goulart 2007 Clasico 
Malbec from Argentina. I bought this wine in the States years ago and it is holding up nicely though the aromas might be a little on the funky side: spicy, leafy, and herbal; but the palate showed a better side: dried cassis and dried blueberry all dashed with a dose of black pepper.
The Australian contribution was a Nepenthe 2003 The Rogue, it too had a rather herbal aroma that wouldn't give up, but once it was open for a bit (20 minutes) lovely flavours of blackberry, mocha, licorice, and cherry emerged ... for a 12 year old bottle I was rightly impressed with this wine.
I have quite a few older bottles of South African wines in the cellar, though I will admit over the years I have curbed my South African wine buying ... this Thelema 2006 Shiraz proved to be meaty on the nose with a nice hint of cassis, but there was also a bit of a rubber hose aroma that began to emerge - on the palate Shiraz was the furthest thing from my mind as sour cherry, tarry, smoky, and oaky showed up and stuck it out - I said all my bottles following the Chardonnay were winners, but I guess I meant comparatively, which is an even bigger slap in the face of that Chardonnay.
The last bottle of the evening didn't disappoint, nor did I think it would: Michael David 2006 Zinfandel, 7 Deadly Zins - Nose loaded with plum, spice, vanilla, with a sweet meatiness hanging about; palate was also pleasant as hell: plum, vanilla, and smoked-mocha cherries ... yet another reason to like Zinfandel and to age a bottle or two.
Other wines tasted tonight (click name for full review):
Hair of the Dog 2015 Gamay
Huff 2013 Pinot Gris
